An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to X-Ray systems and more particularly to alignment of X-Ray systems.
X-Ray technology has been employed extensively in medical imaging and other imaging fields. In certain X-Ray systems, such as angiography systems, patients may be exposed to X-Rays for long periods of time. These angiographic X-Ray systems generally position the X-Ray detector near the patient and/or a table on which the patient is placed and the patient and/or the table is aligned with the detector. The alignment is approximate and is based on a human interpretation of the position of the patient relative to the detector. That is, a health care provider generally makes an educated guess as to where the patient should be placed relative to the detector.
As such, initial positioning is often incorrect and the incorrect alignment is unrealized until the X-Ray system is started and the exact area of exposure is seen (e.g., at a display). This leads to increased exposure time for a patient as the patient must be re-aligned (e.g., re-positioned) and the new position must again be checked. Further, this leads to increased start-up and shut-down costs and wear on an X-Ray system when the X-Ray emitter is turned off during re-positioning of the patient. Accordingly, improved alignment systems and methods for X-Ray systems are required.